Entries organized under Marketing tips

I’m going to tell you what’s wrong with me but, first, let’s talk about music because it eventually (sorta) connects. Right now, there’s a song on my iPhone I’ve been listening to on repeat. There is a bit of a formula to what my husband refers to as Carrie Songs (just as there’s a formula for Carrie Dresses and Carrie Meals — we like what we like!). A Carrie Song needs a guitar and a singer-songwriter (extra points for male and female singer-songwriters who sing together); it’s generally in the genre of “alternative folk” and it should gradually build and promptly finish in under 3:30. There’s a little more to it but those are the basics. Once Had by Keston Cobblers Cub totally fits it. The hook is this repeated line, “…and awkward silences they go on and on and on and on and on and on and on…” (If you’d like to preview the song, here it is on iTunes – it’s track 8.) It’s that line that has a business lesson.

But first I have to tell you a short love story.

If you dated me in 2008, you know that my Lavalife profile promised “awkward silences.” A lot of nice men responded to that profile and I had coffee or dinner with them, and they didn’t mind my awkward silences at all. In fact, they were sometimes awkwardly silent themselves, which didn’t bother either of us because we had an understanding before we even sat down at the table. It was lovely. And one of those men ended up marrying me.

When you name an awkward thing, it loses its awkwardness and I think it even becomes charming.

I hear that song, and those words remind me of the woman who typed that profile with a f*** it attitude. Here’s me. Like me, don’t like me. It’s all fine. But I don’t want you to be disappointed. I don’t want you to feel sold to.

And with that, the signature of my spirit was somehow transmitted through those keystrokes and pixels and I didn’t come across as flawed so much as different, individual, maybe even interesting. What’s “wrong” with me is that I’m terrible at small talk (I detest it) and will panic if I can’t think of something to say next and will be so busy dying inside that the only words that come to mind will be SAYSOMETHINGSAYSOMETHING, which isn’t helpful. I was open about it. “If you have coffee with me, here’s what it will be like…. and I will drink tea.” And that small experiment in proclaiming my shortcomings has led to great things, not least of which is a very fine husband.

So what’s the business lesson in announcing one’s awkward silences (and whatever your version of them is)?

Our businesses are all just containers for relationships. Being honest and vulnerable creates space for genuine connection (a key principle of Kind Business), and it gives the recipient permission to be honest and vulnerable. It’s liberating for everyone.

But here’s the other thing, as it relates to marketing, specifically… I know that a lot of sensitive people hold back from launching things and from writing offer pages because they don’t want to disappoint. Honesty and vulnerability are the cure for that! You can say “I’m really good at x, y, z but I’m not able to give you a, b, c…” “I can help you cope with [blank] but I won’t heal you.” “I need time to consider things, so I never do meetings by phone, only email.” “I sometimes get so inspired in consultation calls that I rush from one idea to the next and it can be hard to follow, so I will always provide a transcript to you within 48 hours, and you may followup with questions by email.”

Don’t not offer the thing you want to offer. Don’t try to change yourself first. (Don’t not date.)

Just tell people what it will be like with you. You will feel safer that way. And I think you’ll be delighted. Turns out, some people really dig the awkward girls.

It’s not at all serious but I am dealing with some health stuff that has me researching different treatment options. There’s a specific approach that I’ve felt drawn to, but I’ve been able to locate very few of these practitioners in my city. A google search quickly found the fellow nearest me.

Because I’m a marketer (among other things), I can recognize a slick sales funnel from a mile away. I am not a fan of slick but I can push myself to overlook it if I like the practitioner. So I scheduled a consultation to meet him in person. (Sometimes nice folks hire slick marketers to help them build their practices and end up with something that doesn’t *feel* like them at all but they don’t know how to get out of it.)

Our appointment was today. I stood up just five minutes into the consult to leave. And I felt uncomfortable that I had shared with him any of my personal health information. Everything about how he spoke to me felt condescending and arrogant. I can’t claim to read his intentions but it certainly seemed that he wanted me to feel small, and very much in need of him. Sadly, there was a time in my life when that would have worked. (Thank god that time is over.)

It bothered me to think of the other women (and men) who have been in that same seat, and the ones who would return to it because they don’t know they have choices. I spent the twenty-minute ride home writing in my head a scathing, forewarning online review. Oh, it was a work of vindictive genius. But I don’t want to hurt another person’s business (particularly when I can’t be sure he wasn’t just having a very bad day.) It was enough to fantasize about it.

There was something, though, I wanted to write still. I wanted to write to you. You, dear person, who is in a helping profession. People like me and like us need to know that people like you are out there and available. People like me, who are feeling tender and who need some respectful counsel, need to be able to find you. Because otherwise, we end up in places that aren’t very nice.

Telling the people who need your help that you are available (which is marketing) is an essential part of your CARE. I know so many don’t like marketing and I get it — you don’t want to impose and you don’t want to be holding your hand out, making asks when you’d rather just give. But I want you to see that when you resist marketing, what you’re also doing is being … well .. unwelcoming.

Right now, somewhere, there is a woman feeling vulnerable about her health or her pregnancy or her feelings and she is sitting in the office of someone she googled and she is not feeling safe or heard and it will not be gentle for her and she is only there because she doesn’t know that there is a you. You, with a fresh pot of herbal tea brewing. You with your kind ear. She needs you.

So update your website or send that newsletter or sponsor a post on Facebook or skywrite. Introduce yourself to that lady, and put the kettle on.

I ask because, evidently, Googlebot doesn’t like this site we’re on right now or a lot of websites that I would consider thoughtfully designed. Harrumph.

I wouldn’t have been any the wiser if it weren’t for the sweetest coder I know, Arwyn Todd, kindly bringing Google’s big announcement (you can read the whole thing here) to my attention. So I asked her to fill us in, in her sweet, not-too-techie way.

Q. Dear Arwyn, please tell me what I need to know about this news from Google and what it means for my website and for search rankings.

A. There’s a lot of chatter on the interwebs about Google’s big announcement to change their search algorithms; the short version is, starting April 21st, Google is going to penalize websites that are not mobile-ready. That means your hard-earned search engine rankings will be “significantly impacted” if your website isn’t considered mobile-ready by Google standards.

Q. So how do we find out if a website is pleasing to Googlebot or not?

A. Google has provided a quick online assessment called the Mobile-Friendly Test. Click the link, enter your website address, and it will tell you whether your site passes or fails and if it fails, it will tell you why and what to do.

A. First, please don’t panic! It’s true, your site didn’t pass Google’s test. Even though it’s legible and quite lovely on mobile devices, Googlebot thinks the type should be bigger and the links need to be further apart – these are just a couple of their criteria. Although I can imagine it’s no fun to get design feedback from an impersonal algorithm, the solution may be easier than you think. And in case it makes you feel better, 90% of the websites I’ve tested failed the mobile-ready test, so you’re in good company.

Q. Once I get over feeling grumbly about this, what should I do?

A. Well, there are a few ways to make your site mobile-ready:

Option 1 – Change or update your theme: A lot of WordPress themes are already mobile-ready. If your theme says it’s responsive or built for mobile devices but you’re failing Google’s test, make sure you have the latest version of your theme installed. And, if you don’t have a custom-built theme or you’re not in love with the theme you have, this is a great time to find a new theme that you’ll love and that’s mobile-ready.

Option 2 – Create a custom-built mobile theme: A custom mobile-theme built just for you means your mobile site will have the same design and branding as your main site, but it takes quite a bit of work to put together. Usually you need a designer to design the mobile look and then a developer to code it. And, not surprisingly, this approach takes some time and $$. You probably couldn’t get that all done before the Google deadline, so it’s not the best short-term option, but long-term this is definitely what you want – mobile site traffic is only going to increase, so you want to have your mobile theme match your branding.

Option 3 – Use a WordPress plugin: There are lots of great WordPress plugins that will make your site mobile-ready. They’re quick and easy to implement, are generally affordable, and you’ll be ready for the impending Google crisis in no time. The downside is, you’ll need to use one of the plugin’s mobile themes so it won’t look quite like your current theme. You can edit the mobile theme to be more your style, but it will never be as lovely as a custom mobile theme (of course, you might decide you love the mobile theme, in which case hooray!). The giant plus here is that you’ll be mobile ready with minimal effort and well before the Google deadline.

Q. What’s your recommendation?

A. Because of the quick timeline we’re dealing with, I’m recommending option #3 – pick a plugin and get your site ready for the change.

Here are the three plugins I’m recommending:

WPtouch is the plugin Google is pointing people to and it has a ton of great options. There is a free version, with paid versions starting at $59/year. Please note, if you’re using WooCommerce, you have to go with the $199/year version.

Elegant Themes has a mobile plugin that doesn’t have as many options as WPtouch, but is clean and easy.

I’m also hearing good things about WP Mobile Detector, which not only has a couple of themes to choose from, it adjusts those themes based on the type of mobile device someone is using, i.e. iPhone vs. Android. Plus it’s free!

Q. Oh, okay, well, that’s not terrifying then. Plug-ins are pretty easy. But would you do mine for me? And could I send friends of Pink Elephant your way?

A. My current clients get first spaces on my calendar but I would love to help others out too, if they’re feeling unsure about tackling this themselves. It really is important to get it taken care of before April 21.

Thank you, Arwyn!

Arwyn Todd is a web developer and technology enthusiast who loves wrangling WordPress sites and putting systems in place to help small businesses run smoothly. She believes technology is an important tool for every small business and that it doesn’t have to be intimidating.

Every season there are more and more “how to make money doing what you love” programs with really compelling sales pages. And while I’ve written before on the subject of what icks me out about The Glorification of More, what I want to talk about here is how hard it is to assess our own business needs and our own abilities in the face of so many confidently-presented program offers.

The sales page script is something like this: I used to have the same problem you have but then I solved it and you can too if you do as I do. Click here to buy.

When we read a powerful sales page, sometimes it’s hard to hear our own voices.

I know I sometimes think “Oh, maybe I need THAT?” when, before hearing about a certain program, I’d been pretty sure I needed something else. Or – ha! – that I hadn’t needed anything.

Because I don’t know enough about the solution, I have to trust that if the “problem” the expert describes having solved sounds a lot like mine, then her solution will work for me. It seems like reasonable logic. And in the absence of other information, it’s really all I have to work with.

But a sales page can’t know what we know (and sometimes, we’re not sure we can either).

What that expert needed to learn (and then teach) may not be what you need to learn or what I need to learn. I wish sales pages wouldn’t presume to know what we need to learn, or speak with such authority on the subject, but I don’t think it’s malevolence – more a case of everything looking like a nail when you’re a hammer.

So what to do about this? Well, I’ve been studying self-employment for several years and have had the privilege of seeing behind the scenes of small businesses that are successful and those that are struggling and, from my vantage point, clear patterns have emerged.

I’ve also identified an order to these skills. Each lays a more solid foundation for the one that follows. (In my case, I had a good handle on clear communication and client empathy but because I was weak in understanding sustainable pricing, I struggled.)

1. Client empathy

Successful small business owners know their clients and feel their clients. Because their understanding is empathetic, they offer the specific services that are needed and communicate them in a way that makes their marketing compassionate (and compelling).

2. A solid understanding of sustainable pricing methods

Successful small business owners know how to price their offerings. They use basic math, taking much of the emotion right out of it.

3. Clear communication

Successful small business owners know how to explain what they do clearly, genuinely, and originally so that people understand, remember, and tell others. It’s not about scripts; it’s about clarity and, ultimately, kindness.

(The website writing workbooks in the Pink Elephant Academy Bookstore are designed for exactly this purpose, and How to Write a Lovable Homepage is our best-seller.)

4. Website savvy

Successful small business owners don’t necessarily know how to code their own websites from scratch (although that’s a handy skill if you’ve got the time and interest) but they do know how to do (or delegate) basic maintenance and how to organize the content of their site. The experience and design of their websites reflect the spirit and heart of their businesses. Their websites do a lot of the work for them (and sometimes, all of the work).

5. Community building

There are a lot of sales programs that can teach you “techniques” for closing deals but I find it feels much better and is far more sustainable to be surrounded by people who like and support you. Successful small business owners may or may not have big communities, but the people who like/follow/read them want to be there and are enthusiastic. There are a few different means of reaching out and building community: email marketing, blogging, social media, and public relations are four key ones. Get good at just one (and then layer in another when you’re interested in trying something new).

6. A healthy relationship with money

So many of us have ideas about money that don’t serve us well. We believe people in helping professions shouldn’t make much or that to focus on money is “bad” or “greedy” or we feel unworthy so we over- or under-spend. We can be afraid of financial success and we can be afraid of poverty and sometimes we don’t even know what mental scripts are running that are taking up valuable real estate in our beautiful minds. Successful small business owners recognize and ignore their own scripts, knowing that having a healthy relationship with money is the only way to open ourselves to receiving it and being conscious stewards of it.

7. Productivity

Successful small business owners have systems and/or support people in place so that they can be primarily focused on doing their great work in the world. They know how to optimize their personal rhythms and schedules to create a lot.

8. Personal Resource Management

Successful small business owners know it’s not selfish to take care of themselves – it’s good business sense, and they make it a priority. Their well must be full in order to be of service to their clients, their colleagues, and their families and communities.

Do you know your own strengths?

I think if we know what specific skills are essential (and you’ve read this post so now you do), what our own business strengths and opportunities for growth are, and what trusted programs and experts support the development of each (that suit business owners like us), then we won’t feel so susceptible to the “authority” or allure of a sales page. And we’ll support real experts who are doing good work – not just money-making work.

Sometimes, it’s hard to know objectively what we’re doing well in business when our revenue or client numbers are telling us that something is wrong. Sometimes, it feels like we need every business coaching or marketing program out there – and we don’t.

I’ve developed a neat, little online self-assessment tool I’m super proud of. It takes about five minutes and will tell you how you’re scoring in each of the eight business skill areas listed above. After you’ve got your scores and can see where you’re strong and where the opportunities for development are, I also have a list of experts and programs recommended by the Pink Elephant Community, other small business owners like you and me, so you can choose experts to follow or programs to take based on information and reliable recommendations (no affiliates here!). I hope you find it very helpful.

A PINK ELEPHANT PRIMER ON WRITING THE ESSENTIAL PAGES OF A SERVICE-BASED SMALL BUSINESS WEBSITE

If you’re a small business owner in a service-based or helping profession, your website is often your first welcome. It’s a friendly greeting to prospective clients and it’s a means of connecting you with the people you’re meant to help and serve. It doesn’t have to be poetry; in order to be effective, it simply needs to be clear and it needs to communicate the essentials with empathy. Not certain you’re sure what those essentials are or how to write with empathy? Then, read on. I’ve got a plan for you here that will help you write (or re-write) your own website in a weekend.

Friday night: Start small. Write the navigational menu.

I recommend your navigation bar – the menu that’s usually along the top of a website – be made up of these pages, in this order: Home | About | Services | Blog | Contact. This is a fairly standard ordering and because it follows an expected format, your website feels welcoming and easy to manage for first-time (and repeat) visitors. And that’s our first goal – to provide a kind, warm, stress-free welcome.

Your Friday homework:

1. Open a new document.

2. Type your navigational menu at the top of your file and then type in the other page titles. Tomorrow, when you come back to this, it’ll feel good to have this super-simple framework ready and waiting to be filled in.

Bonus website design tip:

I do not recommend using drop-down menus, as they force visitors to make decisions without any helpful information and that can be subtly stressful. We want our guests to feel at ease in their travels through our sites.

Saturday morning: Sip green tea and write your homepage.

The homepage is where I see the most mistakes in small business websites, mistakes that really hurt businesses, but the happy news is that they’re usually easy fixes. Open that document you started and under your Home heading, start typing…

1. Write a headline that speaks to the problem you solve or your unique point of view. For instance, for this Pink Elephant Academy website, my headline is: Marketing can be quiet, gentle and kind … and still be marketing. That tells you about my philosophy (quiet, kindness) and it tells you the basics of what I do (marketing). If I were a relationship coach, my headline might be a question: “Do you want to have a more loving marriage?” Ask yourself what those you help are seeking and speak in that language.

2. Write a paragraph that describes how they might be feeling right now. Demonstrate empathy for their current place of struggle.

3. Write a paragraph about who you are and how you help. This kind of clarity is so thoughtful for your readers, who may be feeling overwhelmed.

4. Include a bulleted list of your services. Yes, you have a separate Services page that site visitors can access through the top navigation, but we also want to give them a path there in the page content.

5. Include a clear “call to action” at the bottom of the page. What do you want your reader to do next? Book an appointment? Read your blog? Sign up for your ebook. Let them know so that they can feel gently guided through your site.

Bonus website design tip:

Include a professionally-taken photo of yourself on your homepage. It gives a face to the voice and makes the experience feel more like a conversation.

Bonus small business marketing tip:

Add a sign-up form and a generous opt-in gift to your website sidebar so that visitors have an easy way to keep in touch, and something that can help them right away without cost.

My most helpful homepage resource: I’ve written a comprehensive workbook for small business homepage writing that takes you through each step, swiftly and sweetly… if you use it this weekend, you might have more time for a Saturday brunch date.

Saturday afternoon: Make a pot of rose tea and write your About page.

Okay, so here’s the thing about writing the About page. It can feel hard. How can you be objective about yourself? If you’re not certain what to include and what to leave out, then you can run in mental circles of wondering, right? I totally get it. But we can make it manageable by having some content “buckets” and I’ll outline them in the writing tips below. So, open your document again and set your cursor below that About title.

1. Write a headline. This one’s much easier than your homepage’s because we can be straightforward. Here are a few options: About [your name], About [your business name], About [your name] and [your business name].

2. In the first paragraph, get straight to the point. Tell us 1) what you do and 2) who you do it for. You might use a subheading like “What I do.”

3. Tell us why. In a paragraph or two, share the story of how you came to be doing what you’re doing. Everyone loves stories, and small business owners usually have good ones with a lot of heart! You might want a subheading like “Why I do what I do” or “My story” or “The story of [business name].”

4. Do you have a lot of credentials that feel important? You could add a section called “My professional credentials” or something like that, and then list them. This section is optional.

My most helpful About page resource: When I write About pages for clients, I use my own The All-Important About Page writing workbook. It saves me so much time in figuring out where to start and what questions to answer. You may also find it helpful.

Your Sunday morning homework: complete your Contact page.

2. Write a sentence or two, encouraging site visitors to be in touch with questions or bookings. You might also want to include a line that lets them know when to expect to hear back.

3. Write your contact form. Common fields are: Name, Email, Message. You may also want to ask your correspondents to select the services they’re interested in, or to provide their estimated budget, or to provide their own website address. What information would be helpful to you to have right away so that you can respond to them most helpfully? Ask for that.

4. Include a heading that says something like, “Connect with me on social media” and include links to other places you hang out online.

5. Include your sign-up form with opt-in gift again (unless it’s already right there in the sidebar).

Bonus website design tips:

If your website uses the WordPress platform, there are easy plug-ins you can use to create contact forms. Contact Form 7 is one that’s really well-reviewed.

If your business is local, it’s also a great idea to include a Google Maps thumbnail on your Contact page, along with your address.

Sunday afternoon: I like a light mimosa with my Services overview page writing.

A lot of writers stress about the Services page as though all the pressure to be persuasive lives here, but if your homepage and About page are clear, the Services page nearly takes care of itself. I think we can knock out this first draft in an hour. You’re so close to being done!

Your Sunday afternoon homework: Write your Services overview page.

1. Type a descriptive headline that explains what you offer in brief. Think: Gentle Parenting Coaching Services or Vegan Nutrition and Weight-loss Coaching Programs or Small Business Website Design Packages. If you have a local business, it’s a good idea to add your location to the title to help with search engine optimization (SEO): Eco-friendly Landscape Design Services in Toronto.

2. Write a sentence or two that, again, tells what you do and for whom. Phrase it a little differently than you did in your About page, for variety. This is your first paragraph. If your business is local, it can be helpful to work in your geographic location in this paragraph too.

3. Do you offer more than one service, or offer your services in various formats/experiences? Then type those subheadings. For instance, you might offer home-study courses, in-person workshops, and private coaching – each of those would be a subheading. Or, maybe you’re a doula who offers prenatal support, birth support, and postpartum support – those are each clear subheadings, dividing up your services tidily.

4. For each of your subheadings, write one to two paragraphs, explaining 1) the goal/outcome of each service (“My Gentle Discipline coaching package provides an easy-to-follow, respectful discipline plan for your child that will make parenting feel more peaceful…”) 2) what to expect the experience to be like in practical terms (“This offering includes three one-hour coaching calls, recorded for your re-listening, plus a written plan, delivered by email three days after our first session, that includes specific activities and approaches to try with your child to address behavioural challenges…”).

5. Now, for each of these sections, you’ll need to write a “call to action” – the thing you want your reader to do with this information. Your service may be simple enough that it doesn’t require extra explanation, in which case, your call could be “>>Click here to book your appointment” (which could link to an online booking tool like Square Appointments – a service I haven’t used myself so I’m not vouching for… it just looks handy). Another appropriate call could be “>>Contact me directly with questions about this service” with a link to your Contact page.

6. Sprinkle in some testimonials. Your Services page is a great place to have a few lines from a few happy clients. It sets prospective clients at ease to read the stories and confidence of others, like them.

Bonus small business marketing tip:

Ideally, down the road, you’ll write a full offer page for each of your offerings, so your calls to action would become “>>Click here to read more about [service name].” (When you get to that point, Selling Sweetly is the sales page writing workbook I designed for business owners like us who want to communicate effectively and want our work to sound appealing but without sounding sales-y or being pushy, or you could read offer pages you like and try to emulate them.)

And now that the hard part is finished…

Reward yourself with some Sunday night “sleepy tea.” I found this recipe by Jenny McGruther on The Nourished Kitchen and with lemon balm, mint, fennel, licorice and flowers, I can barely imagine sipping something more beautiful.

Cheers to you! And thank you for writing with me.

Was this primer helpful?

If it was – and I hope it was – you could pay forward your thanks by writing the heck out of your website while thinking nice things about Pink Elephant, by sharing this post with someone who might find it useful too, or by contributing to the organic fruit market fund for our fruit-fiend toddler, Eleanor. xo

If you’re Canadian, you’ve probably received a lot of emails in the last few weeks, asking you to confirm your consent to continue hearing from various businesses. This is part of the new CASL legislation that goes into effect today (July 1, 2014) and if you email Canadians (even if you’re not Canadian), you need to know about it.

What I like about this Canadian anti-spam legislation is that it supports what I consider the best practices (and good manners) of permission-based email marketing. Requiring consent is not only nice and respectful, it’s the best way to encourage long-lasting, mutually-supportive relationships with your community.

Your email must have an easy unsubscribe mechanism (and unsubscribes must be honoured within 10 days)

Your email must contain a valid mailing address and either a telephone number, email address, or web address

You must have consent (and proof of consent) to email the Canadians on your list

You won’t be receiving a “consent required” email from Pink Elephant because we’ve always been compliant. If you receive mail from me, it’s because you requested it through Pink Elephant Academy or Pink Elephant Creative (and I love you for it, dear readers and friends!).

I adore coaches. I think they do some of the most important work in this world… they support us in becoming the best of ourselves. They midwife our dreams and desires. What a gift!

But I often see coaches making similar, easy-to-fix mistakes that, I think, are hurting their practices, their prospective clients, and their income potential.

Three of my marketing-writing-business tips for life coaches:

1. Call yourself a coach.

I know there have been some cute titles out there. Things that sound charming and fun. But I want you to call yourself a coach because people understand what that means. It’s clear. It’s direct. It’s stress-free for your reader. And there are already so many “catalysts” and “navigators” and [fill in the blank]+istas that those titles don’t quite feel original anymore. (And I KNOW you’re an original!)

2. Call yourself a coach for specific people. Or for specific situations. Or for specific people in specific situations.

I have said this a hundred times but when you have your arms open to everyone, no one feels special. I want your right-fit clients to immediately know you can help them (so that they can get the help they need) and I want them to feel your care and understanding, right from the first paragraphs of your website. These are the sorts of things I mean:

“I’m a dating coach for single men who want to be married.”
“I’m a life coach for women who want to quit their jobs and start their own businesses.”
“I’m a life coach for high school students planning their next steps after graduation.”
“I’m a parenting coach for couples who can’t agree on a discipline plan.”
“I’m a break-up coach for the newly heartbroken.”

Do you see what I mean about specificity? It’s really attractive to people. It helps them find their way, which is a great kindness.

3. Stop using the word “transition.”

Everyone is in transition, really. It’s become a word without real meaning. And I see it in the websites of well-intended coaches a lot. And it’s not helpful to the coach or prospective client; I even think it can be detrimental. When I read that someone coaches clients through “transitions” or “transitions, like divorce, a new baby, a death, a new job…”, I don’t feel like there’s any compassion for those individual circumstances, or any level of specialized expertise, and a sense of compassion and expertise are two essentials for choosing a coach.

Dear coaches, I want you to enjoy the credibility you deserve and I want you to serve as many people as you can manage, and, in my experience, the most effective way to do that is so simple, it’s overlooked on a hundred websites a day: tell the people you want to help what you do.

When Racheal from The Yogipreneur asked me to join the other writers in her ❤ Your Community Blog Tour, it was an easy yes. (Did you catch Cailen Ascher’s post yesterday? So great!) Hello, hello! to everyone on tour with us (and a special welcome to folks who are meeting me for the first time… I hope you’ll make yourself at home here).

I’ve seen lots of telesummits and online programs and e-books that promise to teach folks how to “get” 10,000 followers, and they always irk me a little bit. A small business doesn’t need 10,000 followers. Or 1,000 followers. A small business needs enthusiastic supporters. In my experience, you can have a comfortable, successful business with an email list of 200 (or even fewer), if those people have signed up because they are excited about exactly what you want to offer.

To feel supported by your community, support your community.

The biggest mistake I made in my own business (I used to be broke, if you don’t know that about me) is that I wanted to do everything for everyone. I have often said, “When your arms are open to everyone, no one feels special.” I offered marketing planning services to entrepreneurs and small businesses and I offered any kind of copywriting for anyone and I offered advertising agency request for proposal writing for corporations and non-profits. I’m really good at all of that stuff and have a lot of experience so of course that’s what I’d offer, right? Except, who could ever remember all that? And who would trust that I was a specialist in all those areas? And how could word of mouth ever work when I had so many different kinds of clients with different needs? It was a mess.

I’ll tell you exactly what I did that allowed me to attract a like-minded (and loving) community.

Step one: I got very specific about who I wanted to hang out with.

I went from “anyone who needed copywriting or marketing services” to “women in helping professions – like coaching, counseling, alternative health, birth support and the arts – who are running their own businesses and not making as much money as they need to support themselves, partly because they aren’t sure how to feel good about marketing.” Way more specific, yes? You can probably think of someone in your life who fits this description. You might even tell her that someone like me supports people that sound like her. (And lest you fear I’ve just cut off half the population; nope! the thing about getting really specific is that people “get” you quicker and will ask for exceptions… and let me tell you, the men who contact a business open about being dedicated to supporting women are totally cool guys.)

Step two: I decided on a service offering that would help my chosen community the most.

I know that one of the most powerful marketing tools is a business’ website, and I knew that without a lot of money to hire a professional designer and writer, that a lot of small business sites look pretty amateurish, which doesn’t instill confidence in a buyer, perpetuating the crummy revenue problem. I decided I could be a huge help by empowering my clients to re-write their own homepages to include essential marketing messages and content in a way that could feel friendly and good (to them and their readers). I ran homepage writing workshops and produced homepage writing workbooks (still my favourite thing on this site because of all the heart in it!), and I offered homepage writing services. I became the homepage lady.

Step three: I gave a gift.

I made a homepage assessment quiz called “How happy is your homepage?” available for download. It’s short, it’s sweet and it can point out serious gaps in a homepage that, if filled, can start to bring in more revenue. Recipients opt-in to a newsletter subscription, where I share my guilt-free marketing advice, and discount codes for the bookstore.

Step four: Tell people what you’re doing, consistently.

I’m most comfortable (and HAPPY!) behind a keyboard so I let my community know what I’m doing through my newsletter and Facebook. Every six weeks or so, I also tweet. And that’s it. But I’m reliable about it. Consistent. People know what I’m about. And I try to be generous. I give tips and advice I hope are useful. Everything I do is about: 1) helping, 2) letting people get to know me.

The good news is that the people who like your Facebook page and the people who subscribe to your newsletter and the people who buy your stuff are people, not a market. Not a list. Not a bunch of potential sales. People. And you already know how to talk to people.

When I first made these changes, I had about 250 people signed up to my newsletter. Within three years, I had 2,500. At 250, because my offering was so specific, I had enough supporters to have a sustainable business. Today, it’s just a little easier. So, go easy on yourself about the numbers if you’re just starting out. Focus on being of service to the people you’re meant to serve, and the rest will follow. Organically. Sustainably.

I have always had a thing for underdogs and I think that’s one of the reasons I got into marketing.

A lot of nice people feel perfectly comfortable saying things like, “I hate marketing.” And I get it. In the name of Marketing, people have done some easy to dislike stuff. They’ve made infomercials and pushy website sales pages, the flyers we don’t want in our mailboxes and the scripts of telemarketers calling at dinner time, billboards in parks and cellulite cream ads in our daughter’s magazines. Yuck, right?

But I need to raise my hand here and say a word or two on behalf of dear, ol’ Marketing.

Marketing is also the recipes a nutritionist shares on her blog that gets her readers excited about eating well. Marketing is the About page on a website that makes readers with similar backgrounds feel understood, sometimes for the first time in their lives. Marketing is the free e-book with sleep tips that gives a sleep-deprived new mother her first glimpse of hope. Marketing is a thank-you email. Marketing is the scholarship offered to someone who really, really needs a learning program but can’t afford it. Marketing is sponsoring a soccer team of three-year-olds so parents don’t have the extra expense of jerseys. Marketing is sharing a personal story on Facebook that connects a whole community. Marketing is hosting a free support circle for the grief-stricken or heartbroken. Marketing is a book written from the heart.

Marketing is when a business lets people know who they are and how they can help. That’s it.

Marketing is a means of connection. It can nurture relationships. It can comfort those who need comfort. It can be kind. It can be happy. It can be funny. It can be beautiful. It can be art.

It is an invitation to be generous and to be creative. (And I know that if you’re here reading this, you are both.)

Dear thoughtful, conscientious business owner, please don’t hate on Marketing. It’s you, you doing good in the world, you being of service, it’s you whose marketing the world needs most of all. It’s you we want to hear from.